How female cyclists can combat saddle soreness

As British Cycling’s head physiotherapist, Phil Burt has dealt with the derrieres of all the top riders. A few years ago so many of the pro women were having problems with saddle pain that a special task force was set up to tackle the problem. He tells Helen Pidd the secret to finding peace in the saddle

The saddle of the simulation bike built in the lab of the English Institute of Sport. Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Saddle soreness is probably the number one complaint among women who cycle. No topic rears its head more often on my club’s Facebook group and yet there is very little satisfactory advice on how to solve the problem.

According to Phil Burt, head physiotherapist at British Cycling and Team Sky, a few years ago so many of the pro women riders were suffering from saddle injuries that a working group was set up to tackle the problem. Burt, former Team GB doctor Roger Palfreeman and UK Sport’s Research and Innovation team asked female riders to fill in a questionnaire about their saddle issues, and were somewhat horrified at the results.

Almost all of the women reported problems. Some had suffered such serious labial swelling that they had to undergo surgery, says Burt, who believes too many women riders are embarrassed to seek help for the problem. “If you have grossly swollen labia, it’s quite personal to talk about, but it really needs addressing as soon as possible,” he says.

In his new book, Bike Fit, Burt notes that “female riders are most often affected by pressure from the outside of the saddle, causing urinary tract damage, (often experienced as a burning sensation while peeing), genital numbness and swelling.”

British Cycling’s approach was to task its famous Secret Squirrel Club with reducing the problem. One solution was to design a bespoke women’s saddle. Made out of the best material they could find for the job (they won’t reveal which), the saddle had a recessed middle but was truncated at the front end: an innovation which initially displeased the eternally finicky UCI, cycling’s governing body, who had to be persuaded to let the saddle be used in competition.

But for those of us without access to British Cycling’s bike shed, how can saddle discomfort be avoided? Here, Burt offers a few tips

1. Get the right saddle

“Saddle choice is an intensely personal thing,” says Burt. “What works for one rider can be agony for another.”

Really the only way to find the right saddle is to try a few.

Some shops have saddle fit cushions made out of memory foam, which allow you to measure the distance between your sit bones to find the right model, while a few manufacturers have demos you can borrow for a test run. The most switched-on shops – such as Condor or the Specialized Concept store in Covent Garden, both in London - run saddle tests where you pay a deposit, trial the saddle for up to two weeks and only have to buy if you like it.

It was once believed most women need a wider saddle than men because our hips are further apart - the old childbirth thing again. But a saddle can be too wide, causing chaffing on the soft tissues in the inner thighs after a long ride. Burt says it’s not true that larger ladies necessarily need bigger saddles, though women often prefer cutaway or anatomic saddles with a hole carved out of the middle. These are intended to relieve pressure on the affected area, but can backfire by redistributing the pressure to the sides and making the pain there even worse – in women this tends to cause labial numbness.

Burt recommends forked saddles by Adamo, saying several female Olympic cyclists swear by their ISM Adamos, despite them usually being marketed at men. In his book, Bike Fit, Burt says this saddle is successful in resolving issues “not solely because of the cutaway but because the two arms of the saddle front flex and rotate with the rider as they pedal.”

Burt recommends the ISM Adamo saddle. Photograph: /ISM

2. Get your saddle angle right

“The angle of the saddle can make a huge difference... due to its profound effect on the rotation of the pelvis,” writes Burt in Bike Fit. He recommends you start with a new saddle level, and then tip it ever so slightly downwards if it doesn’t feel right after a good few miles. “Those suffering from genital numbness often find huge relief in angling the saddle down a degree or two. The shape of some people’s anatomy requires this to help roll the perineum and other tissues out of harm’s way.” He says there is no good reason for tilting it up slightly – some people claim this is so they don’t slide forwards on the saddle, but Burt says this problem is generally cause by the saddle being at the wrong height or the front/rear balance being incorrect.

3. Make sure your bike fits you properly

If you get soreness on one side of your bottom, chances are you have a leg length difference and your pelvis is shifting to make the shorter leg reach the pedal. If I get saddle sores, it’s always on my right-hand side, my right leg being about 1cm shorter than my left. When I went for a bike fit with Burt, he suggested I get a piece of plastic or metal (sometimes called a “shim” or a “wedge”) that attaches in between the sole of the biking shoe and the cleat spikes that fasten into your pedals. You may need to layer a couple of shims onto your shoe to build your shoe up to the required height.

Cleat wedges or shims can help those with leg length discrepancies. Photograph: www.jejamescycles.co.uk

One of Team GB’s gold medal winning track riders has such a marked leg length discrepancy that she needs a few, reveals Burt. Ensuring that your bike is set up properly should also alleviate a lot of discomfort, reckons Burt, because it should distribute your weight optimally.

4.Get decent bike shorts

“The right chamois is key here,” says Burt. Expensive doesn’t necessarily mean better: Bradley Wiggins apparently doesn’t get on with one particularly expensive brand so has his own favoured model sewn into his bib shorts. Other pros swear by cheap chamois from Decathlon, says Burt. For what it’s worth, I really rate Garneau shorts, as well as these, from le Col (I’m currently midway through a test of bib shorts, which will be posted here soon).

5. Keep clean

Infections breed in humid and sweaty conditions, making your chamois the perfect party location for any bacteria wanting to breed. Wash your shorts after every ride and invest in some friction reducing cream: Burt says emollients are better than simple petroleum jelly.

6. Ride more

Everyone’s bottom hurts when they start riding. But the more you ride, the less it will hurt, as your muscles and tissues get used to it. Until you start riding too far...